Officials reported a leopard mauled to death a 10-year-old tribal child in Madhya Pradesh’s Seoni district on Monday morning.

A group of boys from Ghorlatola (Pandiwada) were playing on a road near the hamlet when the tragedy occurred.

According to SK Vanwale, a forest ranger in the Keolari region, the feline attacked the lads at 7 a.m. and kidnapped one of them.

According to him, the leopard mauled the youngster to death as the other lads escaped.

Angry as a result of the occurrence, residents arrived on the scene and attempted to catch the large cat. During the brawl, one of them was hurt, he added.

Meanwhile, Forest Development Corporation official VC Meshram informed PTI that the leopard has been tranquillized and captured by a rescue team from the Pench National Park.

The leopard is encircled on all sides by the villagers. He stated, “We are imploring them not to hurt the animal.”

This is the fourth incidence of its kind in the Seoni district in less than two months.

A leopard mauled a 50-year-old lady to death when she was cutting rice with other women in a field in the Ugli section of the district earlier on October 19.

A leopard murdered a 16-year-old girl in the Kanhiwada forest region near Pandiwada village on October 16. On September 15, a leopard mauled to death a 50-year-old lady at Mohgaon village in the Keolari block of the Seoni district in a similar event.